Lone Red
by LoonRider
Summary: After betrayal and death split the Red Pirates, Marvelous must chart a new course to the greatest treasure in the universe. Rated T due to some violence, and descriptive wound care in first chapter.
1. Last Survivor

**I've got myself on a Gokaiger kick. This is the first of a six-fic series dealing with the crew's early days as Gokaigers. The stories will take the form of connected vignettes and yes, the theme-naming will continue. **

Spoilers: Marvelous' backstory (the flashback in 15, specifically).

#

"Marvelous! Marvelous! Open your eyes, Marvelous!" The tapping on his head dragged him out of darkness, no matter how much he resisted. The darkness was numb, quiet. He wanted to stay. "Marvelous!"

"Stop yelling in my ear..." Pulling his arms towards him to rise, he froze and gritted his teeth as pain shot through him. Why did his right arm hurt so—wait. Basco. The bastard had shot him.

The memory chased off whatever remained of the darkness, and Marvelous took in his surroundings. He was laying face-down on the same stairs he'd fallen down when he'd been shot. The chest, with the Ranger Keys inside, was sitting at the top of the stairs not even a foot from his face, though he could barely see it for Navi, who was still watching him. "Thank goodness! Are you okay?"

He almost laughed, but instead pulled himself into a sitting position with his left arm and continued his survey. No trace of Basco or the Zangyack soldiers who had tried to end them. "How did I get back in here?"

"By the skin of your teeth, that's how!" She flew from the floor to top of the chest. "We managed to get back after AkaRed bought us time... I got the engines started, but you blacked out. You've been unconscious for an hour."

AkaRed's name brought more of Marvelous' scattered memories back. The explosion that had taken his captain was the last thing he remembered with any clarity. It wasn't something he was going to forget. "So we ran away..." He clenched his fists, the tensing of his muscles re-awakening the blaze of pain that was the upper part of his right arm. Left hand snapping to the wound, he choked down a yelp, not that it stopped Navi from noticing.

"Oh, your arm! Gotta take care of it!" Navi was halfway to the cabinet by the time she finished her sentence, and by the time Marvelous managed to get to his feet, she'd picked up the first-aid kit and carried it to the coffee table.

Despite cradling his right arm to his stomach, he still managed to get his vest off and his shirt unbuttoned by the time he sat down on the couch. Getting the sleeve off his right arm required peeling the fabric off the dried blood in order to reveal the wound itself. As he cleaned the blood from his arm, the jagged gash left by Basco's bullet revealed itself. Marvelous grimaced as he tossed the now-bloodstained cloth aside. That was going to need stitching.

He dug out a sterile needle and thread and set both sealed packages aside while he found the disinfectant. A hiss escaped him when he started flushing out the wound with it, the burning sensation a testament to just how long it had been left untreated. When the burning had subsided enough that he was sure he wasn't inviting a nasty infection, he opened the packets and tied a knot in the suture thread before threading it through the needle's eye.

It took several seconds for him to steel himself, and even then his expression was tight as he pierced the skin just under the wound. So focused was he on steadily closing it, he almost didn't hear Navi, who perched on the arm of the couch, "How cruel..."

Halfway through the stitching, Marvelous let out a snort. "He never did fight fair." The tunnel-focus on his treatment was fractured by the words, and it took effort to keep his hand from shaking as he finished and knotted off the stitches. Tossing the needle and remaining thread back on the table, he leaned back and... couldn't think of a damned thing to do.

Mere hours ago, he'd thought they were on the cusp of obtaining the greatest treasure in the universe. Now, his captain was gone and the man he had trusted as a friend and crewmate had betrayed and tried to kill him. He was alone.

"_Live for my sake too! And... be sure to obtain the greatest treasure in the universe!"_

Marvelous' gaze moved to the chest containing the Ranger Keys. AkaRed's last request, his wish, was in that chest. The chest was the key to the greatest treasure in the universe.

"But how am I supposed to..." Turning away from the chest, he stared at his hands, which rested in his lap. They were shaking again. His vision was getting blurry, but he didn't have the will to fight back tears. His left hand rose to his face and he let himself sink into the couch, whole body starting to shake with emotions no longer held back by adrenaline and anger.

"Marvelous..." Navi's voice was barely audible, not that he would have replied anyways. She flew to his lap and let herself be held against him by his right hand. There they sat, the only sound being Marvelous' quiet sobs, as the once-feared vessel of the Red Pirates sailed aimlessly through the vacuum of space.

#

End Notes: Well, that took longer than expected to get done. Don't worry, the determinator Marv we know and love will be back next chapter! For now, we're just going to let him have a quiet cry. I hope to have the next chapter done a bit quicker. R&R!


	2. Resolve

**Note to self: don't talk about a speedy chapter update the day before you go on a trip. Oops.**

#

"Is this really okay?" Navi's wings fluttered, the robotic parrot watching from the back of the captain's chair as Marvelous took down the second Red Pirates banner. The other one was already folded and resting on the coffee table. "It's only been a few days, Marvelous."

Focused on folding the banner, he didn't look at her. "The Red Pirates don't exist without the captain. There's no point in keeping them up for sentiment." He set the folded banner on top of its twin and rubbed the stitches under his sleeve. The wound was healing, and most of the other scrapes and cuts from that day weren't worth mentioning, but he still ached.

When Navi flew up behind his head to look at the banners, he flinched and stepped away. He was still getting used to her sticking so close to him, the same way she'd once followed AkaRed. The way she followed the captain. He shook his head and turned to face the view screen, and the star chart it displayed, before finally glancing in Navi's direction. "Anyway, Bird, where are we?"

"I'm not a bird!" It took the usual two seconds for her to remember that Marvelous had never and would never use her real name, and then she circled him in order to land on the edge of the control booth with a sigh. "We're around the edge of the Zodart system. I've got the autopilot keeping us on the move, but away from any of the more concentrated Zangyack areas where they might spot us." She eyed him as he picked up the banners. "That's all I can do until we figure out what to do next."

"That's fine." He picked up the two banners and headed for his room, once again with Navi flying at eye-level behind him.

She was silent when he set the banners on his dresser, and when he knelt in front of the storage chest against the wall. Then she looked out across the hall, at the door that used to be Basco's room, and landed on Marvelous' bed. "Hey, what'll we do if he comes back?"

"Huh?" He looked at her, his left hand midway into opening the chest.

"Basco. I mean... He didn't get what he wanted, and he's not really the type to give up..."

Turning away, Marvelous leaned the chest's lid against the wall and picked up the banners. "If I ever see that guy again, I'll kill him. It's that simple." Navi knew when not to press an issue, and she returned to silence as he shifted a few things around in order to tuck the banners into the bottom of the chest, right next to a long coat with the same vivid red colour. This he stared at for a second before pulling it out and returning the rest of the contents to their places.

"Isn't that the coat you got on Garnel?" Navi landed on his shoulder while he eyed the garment.

"Yeah..." They (AkaRed, Basco, and him) had been on the planet on the hunt for the Abaranger keys. They'd found yellow and black on a southern continent, but Navi's prophecy had sent them north for red and blue. The beginning of the northern hemisphere's winter had prompted Marvelous to pick up the coat, amidst being jealous of his captain's apparent immunity to temperature.

"Why was it in there?" Navi's voice brought him back to reality, and he frowned at the coat.

"I didn't need it." He could see the skepticism even in her robotic face when she looked at him. Fair, since he was lying.

He'd abandoned the coat as soon as they were back on the Galleon with the full Abaranger key set.

_"Looks too much like a captain's coat,"_ he'd told AkaRed after taking it off. He hadn't intended to keep it, but less than an hour later his captain had come to him and handed the coat back.

_"If you think it should belong to a captain, then keep it until you are one."_

__He wondered if AkaRed had ever thought his death would make Marvelous captain.

Getting back to his feet, Marvelous let the coat unfold and put it on. It still fit perfectly, except for the abnormal weight in one of the inside pockets. Investigation led him to pull out a red ranger key and a mobirate that looked just slightly different from the ones they'd used to communicate. "What's this?"

Navi hovered over his shoulder. "Ah, it's the red Gokaiger key."

"Gokaiger? I don't remember them." He turned the key to examine it, and then flipped open the mobirate to find a keyhole perfectly sized for Ranger Keys.

"You wouldn't. The Gokaiger powers were created along with me and the Galleon. They're the key to bringing out the ship's real power, among other things."

"Really. Why didn't AkaRed ever bring them up?" He closed the mobirate again and returned it to his pocket, the key still in his palm and his eyes on Navi as she bobbed around in the air beside him.

"Hm... I guess it was because you guys were handling Zangyack fine on your own power. Plus if he'd mentioned them before..."

"Basco would have tried to take them." Marvelous closed his hand over the GokaiRed key.

Navi nodded. "He must've put it in your coat so you could use it when you were ready."

"You mean when I became captain and would need the power..." He shook his head, arms falling to his sides. "That guy was so over prepared." Glancing again at the red key he'd been given, Marvelous pocketed it once more before turning to Navi. "Well, this can't be the only one. Where are the other Gokaiger keys?"

"Right this way!" She led him out of the room and into the barely-furnished room that had been AkaRed's. Marvelous had long suspected the captain never slept, and the room's immaculate state supported the theory. Navi flew straight to the dresser and thumped the bottom drawer with her wing. Some lock released, and Marvelous knelt to open it the rest of the way. Inside were four more mobirates and the remaining four Gokaiger keys: blue, pink, green, and yellow.

Marvelous stared at the drawer's contents for nearly a minute. Finally, he reached in and gathered the keys, one by one. "Oy, Bird. I think I know what to do next."

She flew over to land on his shoulder again. "We're gonna go after the greatest treasure in the universe, right?"

He smirked at her. "Yeah." Eyes returning to the keys in his hand, he tightened his grip on them. "And that's not a dream the two of us can seize alone."

#

Whew! I wanted to depict Marvelous' transition here, and also to explain a few things that the show itself never touched on (see: where he got his fabulous coat). Also, brownie points to anyone who can spot the Kamen Rider reference in this chapter.


	3. Determination

**Thank you all for your reviews, faves, follows, and patience! A quick note before we begin.**

**Aka-Baka Hoshi 02 successfully identified the Kamen Rider reference in chapter 2 (and three other KR references I hadn't even noticed I'd made), so I gave her the chance to name the planet we'll be finishing this fic on and the solar system it's found in. Novissimum casum is the Latin term for "last chance." You'll find out why that's important soon enough =3**

#

"Alright, Bird, let's see what you've got." Marvelous leaned on the captain's chair and watched Navi take off from the top of the key chest.

"Alrighty! I don't know if this'll work but... Let's Treasure Navigate!" He was forced to duck as she circled way too close to his head before smashing into the far wall. As usual, she hovered in a daze. "A great reward comes from helping strangers... That's it!" And she dropped onto the couch.

He sighed and combed his fingers through his hair. "That's the best you've got?"

"Hey, I don't control the prophecies." She flew over to look at the view screen. "Anyway, we're heading for the Casum System. Zangyack hasn't touched it yet so I'm sure we can find the stranger we're supposed to help."

He sat on the couch and eyed the screen. "We'd better. Don't got a lot of patience to chase your vague as hell prophecies right now."

"I told you I don't control them! Sheesh..." She descended to land on the control console. A second later, the ship shook under the force of an impact that almost unseated Marvelous and threw Navi off to bounce across the floor. "What?! What the heck was that?!"

The Galleon shook again, Marvelous stumbling on his way to the controls. Once he'd switched the view screen to their surroundings, two giant red battleships answered Navi's question. "Zangyack... I thought you said they weren't in this system!"

"I didn't see any! The scanners must still be damaged from the fight in here!" A squawk punctuated Navi's sentence as another violent blow to the ship's hull almost knocked her down again. She flew up to the controls just as Marvelous headed for the door that led up to the cockpit. "What're you doing?!"

"You said the Gokaiger keys were used to access the Galleon's full power. I'd say we need it!" He pulled the key and mobirate from inside his coat. If he'd interpreted everything right from AkaRed's occasional musing about the keys, this key had the same transformative power contained in all the others. But how the hell did he activate it?

The ship rocked again, and he grabbed the doorframe to stabilize himself. AkaRed had said something about the keys' original bearers using words to trigger the change... Hell, he didn't have time for this! He flipped the key and mobirate open and just went with his gut. "Gokai Change!" His first attempt to get the key in the slot missed, but tracking out the corner of his left eye let him get it on the second try. He turned the key, and the mobirate let off a burst of power that damn near blinded him. When he got his eyes working again, the world was slightly tinted. Another jolt knocked him into the doorframe, but he barely felt the impact even on his still-healing arm.

Navi was staring at him. "Marvelous..."

He looked down at the GokaiRed key, still in his hand though that hand was now encased in a white glove. Damn. "Get the cannons ready to fire. I'm gonna see what this thing does for the Galleon."  
He sprinted up to the cockpit, the suit augmenting his speed enough that he ran into the door before managing to regain his balance and open it. As soon as he got to the ship's wheel, he saw what he wanted: a keyhole identical to the one in the mobirate. The ship rocked again as he inserted the GokaiRed key and turned it. The emblem on the column behind him lit up red, and the cockpit view screen came to life as Navi's voice emanated from the wheel.

"Marvelous! The aft lasers just came online!"

So the ship did have weapons he hadn't known about. "Get them ready, Bird. I'm bringing her about!" He swung the wheel to port, bringing one of the battleships in line with the Galleon's prow. "Fire!"

On the screen, the battleship's shields were barraged by rapid red laser fire. He could only guess that it was coming from the stabilizers that extended from the Galleon's aft. "I think we disabled their shields!" Navi's report made him grin.

"Good." The ship jolted, and the view screen switched to show what was off the starboard side: the second battleship trying to cover for its crippled companion. Stubborn little bastards. "Fire the starboard side cannons!"

"Roger!" He felt the report as the composite-alloy explosives were fired. In atmosphere, shots fired from that distance would have lost momentum before reaching the target. In the friction-free environment of space, they gained momentum and collided with the battleship with devastating force, several breaking through the shields to blow directly on the hull.

He swung the wheel starboard to bring the second ship into laser range. "Bird, what's the first ship up to?"  
It took a second for her to reply. "We damaged their weapons... Marvelous, they're accelerating! They're gonna ram our port side!"

Like hell they were. "Fire port side Galleon cannons, now!" Again he felt the ship vibrate with the cannon report, but that was outmatched by the whole thing pitching to starboard and throwing him to the floor. "I hope that was them blowing up..." He got to his feet and grabbed the wheel again.

"That's right! The first ship's been destroyed, and the second one is trying to circle around!" Once he put the view screen back to forward, he saw she was right. The remaining ship was gunning it starboard, getting out of the aft lasers target range. "Now what?"

"Now we build up some speed." He turned the Galleon on an intercept course and felt her jump forward. The Zangyack ship realized their error too slow by the time they were halfway to bringing their weapons to bear, the Galleon was on top of them. The giant blade of her prow tore into their hull, cutting halfway through the right side of its horseshoe section before a spin of the wheel turned her and wrenched the prow free. The battleship exploded, and again the Galleon was rocked by concussive force, but the battle was over.

"Marvelous?" Navi was worried. Whether she was worried about him or just worried in general, he wasn't sure.

"I'm fine. I'm coming down." He pulled the GokaiRed key out of the wheel and the cockpit dimmed to the inactivity of autopilot. When the view screen went blank, he caught a look at his reflection and paused. Despite the obvious differences, it reminded him of AkaRed. The... What had he called himself? The embodied determination of every past red Sentai warrior. Marvelous smiled and headed back to the cockpit. Determination was something he had plenty of.

Navi was still perched on the controls when he got there. She eyed him over. "You gonna stay in that?"

Oh. He looked down at himself. "How the hell do I get out of it?" It wasn't like he could take it off like his clothes. But he had no idea how to get rid of it otherwise. "I better not be stuck like this. We've got things to-" The same light that the mobirate had given off to transform him shone from his body for a split second. Then the suit was gone. "... Huh?"

"What'd you do?" He could only shrug, and she eyed him up and down. "Maybe because you don't need it anymore, it just disappears on its own?"

He shrugged again. "Makes things easier." He crossed to stand behind her at the controls. "How's the ship?"

She turned to the screen and switched it to show a full scan. "Still in one piece, but we took some damage from the lasers and when the first ship blew. And the sensors are still kinda out of whack."

"Can the auto-repair handle it?" Didn't really want to think about the odds of finding a competent engineer in a system the Zangyack had shown up in, even recently.

"Yeah, we just have to find a planet to land on so the power from navigation and life support can be used for repairs." She tapped up another screen, and he saw why. If they stayed in space, the power allotted to the ship's repair systems would take over a week to fix the damage. Landing made it closer to a day.  
"Any planets in the system we can use?" There had to be at least one that could support life. Zangyack didn't bother with sightseeing.

"There's two. The closer one is Novissimum. The second planet."

"Any Zangyack in orbit?"

"With the state the scanners are in and the Zangyack's cloaks, who knows." Great. And he didn't want to have to do a visual check lest they spot the Galleon.

"Take us in around the night side of the planet. Maybe if we land in a mountain range or something, the idiots won't bother us."

"Okie doke!" She bounced around the console to enter the intended course, and he circled the room before leaning on the captain's chair. She turned to him once their course was altered. "What's wrong?"

How could a robot be so perceptive? He shook his head. "It's nothing." She didn't believe him and they both knew it. But she left it alone.

He watched the screen and their flight plan displayed on it. Every now and then, it flickered with the effort of scanning for obstacles, but none came. With the scanners damaged, that wasn't reassuring. They could have been flying right into a Zangyack flagship and not known it until the Galleon's hull has given it a kiss. And there had to be a flagship in the area. A general would have come for their first venture into the Casum system.

He frowned. Zangyack had been making moves besides partnering with Basco. They were going to become an even bigger pain in the neck.

The ship shook a bit as it entered the planet's atmosphere, and Marvelous banished those thoughts. He had other things to worry about.

#

You know, this was originally supposed to be three chapters long. I feel like it got away from me at some point, haha. R&R!


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